At Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), conversations about diversity often center on supporting Hispanic/Latine students. New research from scholars at University of New Mexico highlights an important and sometimes overlooked issue--the experiences of Black students at these universities, specifically those classified as R1, or highly research-intensive institutions.
The study, titled Conceptualizing Anti-Blackness at Hispanic-Serving Research Universities, explores how a broad array of Black students self-identifies, ways anti-Blackness shows up on campus, how it affects students, and what universities can do to create more inclusive environments.
It was led by Brandi Wells-Stone, director of African American Student Services, Assata Zerai, vice president Division for Change and Empowerment and professor within the College of Arts and Sciences, and Teresa Neely, professor of librarianship in the College of University Libraries & Learning Sciences.
The study was motivated by a noticeable gap in higher education. The research team observed the low percentages of Black students and faculty across all R1 universities that are Hispanic Serving Institutions, along with existing literature showing that Black students often struggle to belong in these environments.
One of the key findings is that many students encounter environments that feel exclusionary or even hostile.
"As shown in the data we present, when coaches, guest speakers, and peers use the 'N-word', this creates an environment in which students struggle to belong. Students in our study reported these occurrences in classrooms, in athletics, and in other campus locations. The good news though is that Black Cultural Centers create safe spaces where students receive mentoring, support, and strategies to navigate other places on campus where they struggle to belong," the research team said.
A central concept in the research is "servingness," which goes beyond traditional measures of student success like grades or graduation rates. Instead, servingness focuses on whether institutions are truly supporting students in a meaningful way.
"In this study, we defined servingness as the intentional and holistic centering of inclusive support indicators for Black students beyond academic markers of success," the research team said. "With our desire to understand Black students' experiences at an R1-HSI, incorporating servingness as one of our frameworks allowed us to understand how we can better align university efforts to create positive interventions to support servingness across the institution (i.e. in academic classrooms, co-curricular spaces, athletic teams, etc.)."
Additionally, many students reported experiencing racism. The majority, 62%, said they either definitely faced challenges related to anti-Black racism or felt that challenges may be related to anti-Blackness.
"It is important to be aware of the plethora of identities among Black students at HSIs. For example, Afro-Latinx students are often overlooked and simply counted as Hispanic students at HSIs," the research team said. "But we must remember they are an important population that also deserves to be served. As HSIs, we must remember that our mission is to serve all students."
Based on their findings, the researchers offer three key recommendations for universities.
First, they encourage participatory action research, where students work alongside researchers to better understand and interpret their own experiences. This approach ensures that student voices are central to any solutions.
Second, they call for expanded "upstander" intervention programs. These initiatives teach students and staff how to respond when they witness harmful behavior. The researchers also emphasize the need for accessible reporting systems in high-traffic areas so students can easily report incidents.
Finally, they stress the importance of institutional reflection. Universities should actively evaluate how well they are serving Black students and work to embed servingness into their mission statements, strategic plans, and everyday practices. They hope their work will encourage R1-HSIs to take more intentional steps toward inclusivity. Their goal is not to shift focus away from Hispanic students, but to expand the mission of HSIs in a more equitable way.
"Additionally, we recommend that future studies expand to include other racialized and ethnic participation within the same institution while also considering the comparative analysis of Black students at different HSRUs across U.S. HEIs," said the research team. "Furthermore, we recommend that future research continue to interrogate definitions of Blackness and identity salience, while also expanding our understandings of what counts as data and Black ways of knowing. In doing so, we can continue to strengthen interventions to combat anti-Blackness tailored specifically to the unique ways it manifests across [Hispanic Serving Research Universities]."
